Somewhere Over the Rainbow
by TwistedSky
Summary: After what Chloe saw while wearing Dr. Fate's helmet, she knew what she had to do. For the past two months she's been at Division, working with Nikita and Alex to bring down a common enemy.  Mikita, Chlollie, Thalex, and a little Birkhoff/Kara. ON HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

So, this was inspired by a twitterpeep. I hope you like it! :) Disclaimer: I don't own Nikita or Smallville-which is probably for the best because I'd probably rename them Mikita and Chlollie respectively. Just kidding. Probably.

XXXXXX

Chloe tried not the groan. Instead, she smiled. She wiped a few strands of blond hair away from her face, and leaned closer with a slightly flirtatious look on her face."It's really quite brilliant, but have you ever considered—" and she proceeded to take over his keyboard. This was the first time he'd given her access to Shadownet, and she was not going to let this opportunity just slide by.

Birkhoff—who Percy had assigned to be her "mentor" of sorts—looked over at her in surprise a few minutes later, after going over what she'd done. "You're good."

Chloe smiled, "That I am."

"I'm surprised that, you know, before you got here you weren't doing something more . . . productive with your skills." Birkhoff was obviously a little upset that she'd so easily taken to Shadownet, even the second best techie at Division _still_ had trouble with it, which was why it was still _his _baby.

Chloe quirked her head to the side, "Before you ended up here, what were you doing?" she asked pointedly.

Birkhoff smiled slightly, "Touché." He'd been caught hacking into the Pentagon as a college student, which most people wouldn't consider "productive." Though, honestly, he wasn't proud of that fact like most people seemed to think he was. After all, he had gotten _caught._ Not exactly a hacker's dream.

Chloe noticed him getting distracted, so she snapped him back to reality. "So, when do I actually get to . . . do something?" Chloe asked, not seeming particularly eager. "Just curious. Because I've been here for two months now, and you know what I'm capable of."

Chloe waited to see if he'd open up to her.

He hesitated, "Loyalty, Chloe." He was being honest with her, which boded well for her future plans for him, because she really didn't want him to end up killed in the crossfire.

Chloe narrowed her eyes, "I think I have more reasons not to trust you than you do to not trust me."

"Exactly. We're trying to ease you in." Birkhoff seemed to close off at that, turning back to his computer system. He was done.

Chloe wasn't ready to let it go. "You let me work on upgrading Shadownet today," Chloe pointed out.

"Yes, and you did great," he replied more than a little condescendingly. "Now, head off to your next training with Michael before he yells at me."

Chloe tried not to sigh—Michael was still suspicious of her, and she needed to make sure that he didn't find out what she was really trying to do, because that would ruin everything.

After everything she'd sacrificed, and after everything she'd done, she would not let that happen.

As Chloe turned around and walked away she smirked. Birkhoff still had no idea that she was increasingly screwing with his technological baby, although it had been more difficult before he'd given her access to it. It hurt her to do it, but no one should have that sort of power. At least not Division anyway.

It was too bad, because Birkoff wasn't a bad guy—most of the people at Division weren't, but they were severely misled. And it was her goal to snap them out of that. And, well, destroy Division. It would all happen in good time—even though 'good time' was driving her crazy in the meantime.

XXXX

**_Two months ago_**

Chloe had made her decision, she knew that Oliver would hate her for it, and that he'd be upset. But it was necessary. After what she'd seen whilst wearing Dr. Fate's Helmet she realized that there was so much more that needed to happen, beginning with this sacrifice.

She'd planned to fake her death, she'd written her letter goodbye to Oliver, she'd erased her existence—mostly, of course. She'd set up crumbs for Division to follow to her, and she'd contacted the men who had taken Oliver.

_Oh, Oliver._ Chloe already missed him. Upon admitting that she'd loved him, it had been as if a dam had broken inside of her, releasing all of her emotions at full power. This would hurt so much more now.

He was going to hate her for this, but it was necessary.

But it would be worth it. Hopefully.

She knew what she had to do, so she was doing it. The only problem was that she didn't know how it all ended—only that it _had_ to be this way for things to even have a chance of working out.

And so, she readied herself. It was time to leave.

XXXX

**_Present_**

Chloe threw the girl—Jaden, she thought her name was—over her shoulder and onto the floor. Practicing self-defense with Oliver all of those months had really paid off.

_Oliver_.

Chloe felt a pang in her heart, one she chose—quite forcefully, in fact—to squash.

It didn't work. She stood there, not even noticing the clapping, or the notes that Michael was giving to Jaden about her performance. She didn't care.

She was stuck in her own head. Every day she replayed it in her mind—trying to understand how things had turned out the way they had.

She wondered when it had all gotten so complicated. Friends with benefits, no strings attached—that's what they'd said. But then love had gotten mixed into it, and now everything was a mess.

This would probably be easier if she weren't so in love with him—if she didn't miss his touch, his voice, his snark . . . _him._

She shoved it out of her mind as she turned to face Michael—who really didn't seem to trust her. But that was okay, she didn't trust him either. "Good, but you need to put more force into it. If she were any bigger, you wouldn't have been able to do it. You need to work on strength."

Chloe fought the desire to be snippy and bit her lip so hard it bled.

"That's enough for today."

Chloe sighed in relief and headed off to take a shower.

XXXX

Michael watched as the newest recruit headed off. She bothered him for some reason, though he couldn't quite put his finger on why. And he would not admit that part of the reason he was focusing on her so much was because Nikita had returned, and Chloe was therefore just a distraction. Because if he did that, that was as good as admitting that he'd missed Nikita, that whenever he came in contact with her, it was harder and harder to let her go.

But not because he wanted to kill her.

Michael mentally shook himself free of that train of thought.

The problem now was Chloe. She'd fallen into Division's lap and it seemed too good to be true, though Michael seemed to be the only one who thought so.

He looked around and saw Alex, and in doing so saw opportunity. "Alex," he called. "Come over here."

He guided her out of the earshot of the guards and the other recruits, "How would you like to do something for me? It has to be top secret, just between the two of us."

Alex raised an eyebrow, "Sure. I can do that. I want to prove myself, and I'm getting antsy."

Michael's lips curved into something resembling a smile—which seemed more like he was about to growl, which made Alex want to laugh. She didn't, of course, because that wouldn't have ended well. "Get friendly with Chloe."

Alex tried to contain her surprise. "Okay. I can do that. Why?"

"Because I need to know how she is around the rest of you recruits, if she has some sort of outside agenda."

"And you're trusting me with this?" Alex seemed slightly disbelieving, and slightly happy that he would trust _her_.

Michael smiled, a real smile this time, and placed his hand on her shoulder—almost as a fatherly sort of gesture. "Yes. Are you in?"

Alex smiled, "Of course."

XXXX

Alex passed by Chloe in the hall, looked around quickly and stepped in front of her. "Michael wants us to be friends. He might be on to you. You might want to try being a little nicer to him." There was a bit of a bite in her voice, as if she weren't particularly fond of the woman standing in front of her.

Chloe lifted an eyebrow, "I appreciate the warning, but if I were nicer to him now, I'm not the only one he'd be suspicious of. It would blow your cover too, and we don't want that, do we?"

Alex narrowed her eyes, "No." She stepped to the side and headed to the computer lab. She'd delivered her message, and she had other things to worry about.

Chloe sighed, watching her go. This was a lot harder than she'd thought it would be.

XXXX

Oliver Queen had done a lot of shameful, terrible, dumb things in his life—but he'd also done quite a few good, heroic, amazing things.

Right now, he could only remember the worst of them. He concentrated, breathing deeply, before flipping over back onto his feet. The slight head rush seemed to help numb the pain.

He was trying not to dwell, but it had been two months._ Two months. _Two months since Chloe had left him, without any indication of when, or even if, she'd come back.

He'd come out to the world as the Green Arrow, and that had been a good distraction. He'd had to worry about the crusade against superheroes, and while that was a headache, it did help to have something to focus on.

But it didn't help to realize that things would have been so much easier with Chloe. Because Chloe . . . he _needed _her. He _loved _her. That was really all there was to it. He needed her, the league needed her, the world needed her.

And she was gone.

At that he grabbed his towel and ruthlessly wiped at his skin, rubbing it raw. It hurt, again, but it helped.

He got into the shower, leaving the water on as cold as he could bear it. He knew it was slightly pitiful, but he was going to take whatever numbness he could. It had been two months. And that was almost equivalent to half of the time they'd even been "together" in the first place.

He was beginning to wish he'd noticed her soon—because he was guilty of that same transgression as Clark. He hadn't noticed her until there was no one else, until she was all that he had. There was no one else he wanted though, he assured himself.

Yet, besides all of that, he felt another strange feeling whenever he thought about her: anger.

He was _angry_ at her for leaving him, for leaving him in order to save him.

And that hurt more than anything else.

XXXX

Chloe sat down at the computer, looking around. She looked back down, ready to talk.

_'Are you there?'_ she typed.

_'Yes, is something wrong?'_

_'Not at all. They're close to knowing it's me, but I'm close to finishing the job.'_

_'Good.'_

_'I'm almost ready. It's time to call him.' _Chloe sighed to herself. She was ready for this, wasn't she? She was ready to see him. She was ready for this to all be over. It felt like a lifetime had passed within Division's walls.

_'Are you sure?'_

Chloe hesitated._ 'Yes, it'll probably take you some time to convince him to listen to you, just remember what I told you. Just try to be in place for when I need you.'_

_'Good luck.'_

_'I'll need it.'_

Chloe sighed again. She really would.

XXXX

Oliver got out of the shower, pulling on sweats, too lazy and wet to bother with a shirt. He heard his phone ring. Probably another reporter. The past few days had been particularly crazy, as the public was became increasingly anti-hero.

"Oliver Queen." Oliver said, deciding to take the call.

"Hello, Mr. Queen. I need to talk to you about something, and I need you to trust me, okay?"

Oliver looked at his phone and considered hanging up, "You have thirty seconds to say something of interest."

"Chloe needs your help," was all the mysterious woman said. It was all she needed to say.

"You have my interest Miss . . . " Oliver felt his heart jump in his chest when he heard her name. _Chloe_.

"You can call me Nikita. Chloe is . . . helping with an important project, and she'd like you to join in."

"Look, I don't know who you are, but if you hurt her I will—"

Nikita laughed, "I'm not going to hurt her. We're . . . friends, of a sort."

"Really? And why should I believe that?" Oliver demanded.

"Because, she said it's your turn to save her." Nikita's tone softened, "You're her knight in shining leather, and she loves you."

Oliver felt his heart squeeze painful, "What do you need me to do?" he heard himself say without even thinking about it.

He needed to see her.

He could almost hear Nikita smile over the phone, "Sending you directions now, follow them to the letter. Which means no, you can't take your private jet."

XXXX

Nikita hung up a few minutes later, smiling. She'd waited a long time for this. Finally, things would start happening.


	2. Chapter 2

Timeline note: So, Chloe's been at Division for two months. Everything from Chloe taking the helmet to her talking to Nikita, yada yada all happens within a two week period _before_ she gets there. I disclaim!

XXXXXX

Chloe tossed and turned restlessly, trapped in her dream. Suddenly she sat up straight in her bed, awake instantly, breathless and sweating profusely.

Chloe tried to calm herself down. The nightmares were getting worse as time went on, and she was desperately waiting for the day she could escape Division. The cold atmosphere, the lack of color, the loneliness . . . it was getting to her.

She tried to block the images from her mind—flashes of pain, of terrified running, of the other images she'd seen with Dr. Fate's helmet—they were getting to her. She couldn't sleep, which was putting her even more on edge, which others were beginning to notice.

This would probably all be easier if she could lean on Alex, but she couldn't. Not in the least because Alex obviously didn't trust her—which wasn't all an act so that they didn't get too heavily linked together.

It was too damn bad though, because Alex was stuck with her. Chloe smiled at that, shaking her head free of the last of her nightmares, trying to focus on the positives in her life.

Chloe felt better when she reminded herself of all that she was fighting for.

XXXX

**Two months ago**

The dark-haired woman sighed, putting away the mask carefully. She'd gotten Alex into Division, now it was up to Alex. She could only hope that she'd trained the young woman well enough.

Nikita's thoughts her were interrupted by the entrance of someone, she could feel the movement behind her, which surprised her because no one should have been able to get this far without triggering one of the alarms Nikita had set up. Nikita grabbed her gun, turning around quickly to face the petite blond who stood at the door across the large, open room.

The girl smiled, lifting up her hands, "No gun. Promise. Not that you have any reason to believe me, of course," she acknowledged. The blond woman began to walk closer, taking a bit of a tour of the room. "You're good at covering your tracks. Nikita, right?"

Nikita quirked her head to the side, "And here I am, without a name to put to your face. Who are you?"

"You can call me Chloe. Sullivan, actually, if you're in the mood for a background check." Chloe laughed at that, as if she'd made some sort of inside joke that Nikita just wasn't privy too. Which, indeed, she had. There wasn't much to be found on her.

"Chloe, I'll tell you right now that it's surprising that I haven't shot you already. Give me a good reason why I shouldn't give up on this whole self-control thing."

Chloe smiled slightly, "I can help you."

"With what?" Nikita asked suspiciously. Chloe could have easily been a Division agent sent to trick her, then kill her at the first opportunity. Or worse, capture her, and deliver her for a torture session. Nikita fought off a shudder. Amanda could be excruciatingly detail-oriented.

"This . . . Division, is it?" Chloe hesitated, and then continued at Nikita's nod. "One aspect of it is involved with the hunting down and kidnapping of superheroes, torturing them into submission."

"Superheroes?" Nikita asked in disbelief. "You mean like those kids in costumes, who think they're saving the world?"

Chloe's smile disappeared. "They're not pretending, Nikita. They really do make a difference. Anyway, the world is changing, and there's a bill to force all superheroes into public view that's going to pass, sadly. With that, this secret government group will be able to do whatever they want. I can't stop that, but I can make sure to take them down before they do too much harm."

Nikita was beginning to believe Chloe—if only because it sounded so far-fetched, it was almost plausible.

"That still doesn't answer my question," Nikita lowered her gun, but still kept it at the ready. She couldn't be too careful. "Why are you here?"

"Because those people are the same ones you're trying to take down. My point is, of course, I'm in."

Nikita had dozens of questions, but she settled for the simplest. "How do you know all of this?"

Chloe smiled. "A little helmet told me."

Nikita looked at Chloe as if she were crazy. She was beginning to wonder if the problem with the woman in front of her weren't a bit more . . . psychological.

Chloe laughed nervously, realizing she'd confused Nikita, "Sorry, got a little ahead of myself. I want to help you, and in return you'll be helping me."

"Why should I trust you?" Nikita demanded.

Chloe had been waiting for this question, "Because I can help. And, honestly, if I weren't trustworthy, your friend Alex would be dead already. I'm not working for Division. I'm just a friendly little neighborhood superhero-helper." Chloe smiled at her description of what she did. It was accurate.

"Is that all?" Nikita asked wryly.

Chloe sighed, "No, but I don't have a lot of time. I need to get into Division to implement my plan—which I'll tell you about as soon as you put the gun down."

Nikita thought carefully. On one hand, she wanted to trust this woman—who seemed like she could be telling the truth. On the other hand . . . she could end up dead, or worse, if this Chloe woman ended up being less than savory.

Nikita decided at that moment, knowing what her decision was in an instant. She set her gun down in its case on the table where it had been before she'd grabbed it at Chloe's intrusion.

She had nothing to lose.

XXXX

When Alex found out about Chloe's inclusion in their takedown of Division, her initial reaction had been dismay. And she'd been more than a little annoyed.

Why would Nikita trust this random woman with such an important mission? Nikita had never been able to give her a good answer to that, except to say that upon getting to know her, she'd seen something familiar in her. They were kindred spirits, it seemed. Whatever that was supposed to mean, Alex had barely been able to keep herself from snorting with disdain.

Upon reading that message from Nikita, Alex had really tried not to laugh. That was ridiculous. Alex had compromised though, choosing not to outright reject Chloe, and to instead just focus on her own problems and her own tasks. Over the past two months, she'd done her best to essentially ignore Chloe.

Honestly, just keeping on-task with all of the things that Division threw at her, while still funneling information back to Nikita was _exhausting. _Being a double-agent was not nearly as easy as Sydney Bristow from that show _Alias_ had made it seem.

Beyond all of the daily stresses, there was also Thom. And she couldn't stop thinking about him for some reason. This situation they were in way terrible. Because even if she weren't secretly trying to take down the very entity that his loyalty belonged to completely, they wouldn't have been able to be together.

It was painful. It hurt her to see him, it hurt her to remember the kiss she'd shared with him, it—she shook herself free of that train of thought.

She didn't have time for this. She looked back down at her computer screen.

She asked, yet again, it Nikita trusted Chloe. Her response was the same as it always was.

_'Yes. And you need to.'_

Alex sighed, telling Nikita she needed to sign off.

What she needed to go do was pummel something. That almost always made her feel better.

XXXX

**Two months ago**

Chloe stared at the helmet for a brief moment, hesitating only long enough to remind herself why it was so important.

She pulled it out, feeling it rush towards her, enveloping her in a golden, warm sort of light, and she lost all sense of self.

_Images rushed through her mind—of people places she didn't know. At least, she hadn't, but now she did. _

_Somber tones filled her mind—a place . . . Division, it was called._

_Black ops. Government agency, soon to be given the job of enforcing . . . an anti-hero bill. The world was going to change rapidly. Chloe could feel the darkness circling through everything, looking for weakness._

_Chloe would have gasped if she'd had the frame of mind. She saw Oliver reveal to the world that he was the Green Arrow, she saw him be tortured, along with other heroes. _

_She saw people—Nikita, Michael, Alex, Birkhoff, strangers. And now, not. Suddenly, she knew them._

_Random facts, flashes of what seemed to be past, present and future flashed at an intense speed, though she somehow seemed to grasp onto threads as they began to overwhelm her mind._

_Everything started to fit into a pattern._

_And she knew what she had to do—an intense feeling of urgency filled her._

Chloe passed out.

XXXX

Chloe quickly set out to win over Nikita, not wasting time. First she updated Nikita's security system, making it even more unlikely that anyone would be capable of tracing her through her tech, or that they'd be able to sneak up on her like Chloe had. Nikita, knowing quite a bit about such things herself, had been impressed. It had helped Chloe break through Nikita's outer shell, somewhat.

After Nikita took her out on a mission and Chloe had actually ended up saving Nikita's life, Nikita had taken to her. It didn't, of course, hurt that she'd done her own research about her current houseguest, and everything had checked out.

But more than that, Chloe'd been brutally honest with Nikita. She shared more of her own past than she'd intended to, somehow knowing that it was the right thing to do.

She spoke of Jimmy—a loss with which Nikita had sympathized. Nikita had her own past—which she'd been surprisingly open about, after hearing Chloe's backstory.

Nikita felt her own guilt about the death of her fiancé Daniel—who had died because, simply, he'd had the horrid luck of loving her, and having her love him. Chloe had realized that Nikita was still horribly in pain over that, and had reached out physically, hesitating before dropping her hand down.

Nikita had grabbed onto it though, squeezing. "If you turn out to be lying about all of this, I _will_ kill you in the most painful way possible." It had been said breezily, with a seriousness that Chloe understood as a warning.

Chloe didn't know why Nikita seemed to just accept her into the fold. But she was thankful for it—trusting in the weird feelings she got, which seemed to tell her exactly what to do and what to say.

The real moment of bonding, however, happened when Chloe told Nikita about Oliver.

When she'd explained how hard it had been to open up to him, but that he'd somehow gotten inside of her, making her fall in love with him . . . it had made Nikita smile—albeit sadly.

Chloe knew she'd won Nikita over at that moment, that now it was only a matter of time before they'd get the ball rolling.

Chloe told Nikita about Dr. Fate's helmet, and was shocked by the simple way with which Nikita seemed to accept it as fact.

Nikita, upon Chloe musing about that, had smiled. "I've seen some strange things in my line of work, Chloe."

Chloe had smiled back, and had started to tell her about what she'd seen. She hesitated when she started to discuss a man from her visions. "I know things, but I'm not even sure about most of what I know. I saw you with someone. A man, Michael?"

Nikita's face showed her pain plainly, as if she didn't even know how to hide it.

Chloe, seeing this, realized something important. "You love him."

Nikita had looked up sharply from her hands at that, "I—"

Chloe had smiled wryly, "You can lie if you want, but it's all over your face. And when I saw you two in my visions . . . I felt something."

"It's complicated."

"I know," and she did. Michael and Nikita were enemies—and with their dark and twisty past, something Nikita had shared in part with Chloe, chances were that one of them would end up killing the other. "I'm so sorry."

Nikita had smiled sadly at that, "I am too. But enough of this. We need to discuss the extraction plan."

Chloe wasn't in the least bit caught off-guard by the sudden shift in topics. "You'll call in Oliver, telling him to bring the league, when I give you the signal. We—we can do this. We have to." She assured herself as much as she assured Nikita with that statement. The worry and the stress were beginning to weigh on her.

"It makes it so much more important," Nikita mused, "Realizing that it's not just about taking down a rogue agency, or about getting revenge."

Chloe sighed. "True." Chloe hesitated before continuing, "Division isn't as rogue as you think, Nikita. For the most part, there's just enough gray and dark area that the official governmental authorities pretend they don't know what's going on. Partially, of course, because they're being blackmailed, and partially because they can still use it to do their dirty work."

"That doesn't surprise me," Nikita replied.

"We need—we need to succeed."

"We will. Failure isn't an option," Nikita said firmly.

XXXX

**Present**

Chloe hated flirting with Birkhoff—it made her feel dirty. It wasn't that he was a creepy guy, well, particularly anyway. It just felt wrong.

But it was a necessary evil, she reminded herself. She would have rather read a hundred flirty emails between Oliver and Dinah(something that would have annoyed her immensely), or have been strung up outside like Christmas lights, just swaying in the wind . . . but apparently that wasn't what fate had in store for her.

"So, you have access to a lot of content, right?" Chloe asked casually.

"Yup," Birkhoff was like a peacock, proudly showing off his feathers. He leaned back in his chair, stretching out comfortably. "Everything."

"Everything?" Chloe asked skeptically.

"Well, not _everything_ everything. But you know what I mean."

Chloe fought to not roll her eyes and laugh. "What about—everything that happens inside of Division. I mean, I'm sure a lot of secrets are contained within these walls . . . they must be pretty guarded."

"Oh, they're all linked in. I'm just not supposed to look at any of it."

"Really?"

"Really," Birkhoff replied, completely uninterested in the idea.

And that, Chloe realized, was why she and Alex hadn't gotten caught.

Chloe had gotten what she'd wanted though—the knowledge that somewhere in Division she could find everything she needed, because with her knowledge of Birkhoff's pet technology, she could bypass any security system.

_Percy's office._


	3. Chapter 3

Ah, life gets in the way sometimes. I disclaim! Chapter three!

XXXXXX

Oliver might have been mildly nervous, but instead he'd taken on full anxiousness, and he honestly didn't know how he'd react to seeing Chloe again.

It made him _nervous._

And if that weren't bad enough, he hadn't wanted to trust this "Nikita" woman either, but he didn't really have a choice.

She'd allowed him—encouraged him even—to tell people where he was going, because she said they would need them later. For what, she hadn't said.

It worried him, but in the end, the risk was worth it. Just for a chance at seeing Chloe—he would do anything. The league was at the ready, waiting for him to give them a signal, and Clark was going to listen for him, and appear if anything went wrong.

Regardless, Oliver waited in the area Nikita had designated alone—and as himself, because apparently he was less conspicuous as Oliver Queen than as Green Arrow—weapons at the ready.

"If I really wanted to, I could have set a trap here." A voice said.

Recognizing it, Oliver turned around, "But you didn't."

The woman—attractive, actually, but not really his type(anymore, anyway)—had managed to sneak up on him, but she also had a point. He'd be dead if she wanted him to be. She obviously didn't. She smiled, "Exactly. You can put the, um, crossbow down."

Oliver lowered his weapon, but only slightly.

She sighed, "As I said before, I'm Nikita. It's lovely to meet you," there was a slightly sarcastic tone evident in her voice.

Oliver smiled, and not in a particularly friendly way, "I gathered."

She smiled slightly, "Of course." Nikita looked around briefly, as if wondering where to start. "I think we should get back to my base of operations before we discuss everything."

"Why would you assume I'd go with you?" Oliver asked. He could turn around right now, he could go back to his life . . . empty without Chloe.

Yeah, no.

Unaware of his inner backtracking, Nikita raised an eyebrow before turning around as she said, "You came this far, didn't you?" She stalked off, leaving Oliver staring after her. He shook him free of his confusion and ran off to catch up with her.

"What exactly is going on here?" Oliver demanded an answer. He was done with waiting. He wanted answers.

Nikita sighed, reaching to open the door to the outside street. "Hurry up."

Oliver realized he wasn't going to get anything out of her right then, so he did as she requested.

XXXX

As he walked inside of the building, he noted that it was set up as a base, and although he supposed it was acceptable—"You know, you could probably use some upgrades."

Nikita shook her head as she shrugged off her coat, "I won't sacrifice the anonymity for higher tech."

Oliver nodded, understanding what she meant. "So what the hell is going on?" he asked bluntly.

Nikita sat down. It was a long story. "You have a problem, I have a problem, and there's quite a bit of overlap between the two." She thought it was a rather succinct explanation.

Oliver just stared at her, "How about you try starting from the beginning?" He wanted a little more than that.

Nikita smiled, "It's a long story . . . but I'll try to just cover the important parts for now. I used to work for a top secret organization that goes by the name of 'Divison' and is somewhat tied to the government of the United States."

"Black ops?"

"That's what it used to be. Now it's just rogue, and they're blackmailing half of the relevant government employees."

"That's . . . not good." Oliver sighed, burying his hands in his hair. More stress. That's exactly what he'd been looking for. Not. It didn't seem to matter though, because trouble seemed to seek him out. "Not good at all," he repeated softly.

"That's an understatement." Nikita sighed.

"Where does the connection between our . . . problems come in?" Oliver asked curiously. He was impatient.

"Division is now in charge of hunting down 'heroes.'"

"So?"

Nikita wasn't particularly annoyed with Oliver's attitude, he had his reasons for being upset. She understood, she really did. "If we take down Division and get our hands on all of the info, these black boxes that contain it all over the world, then not only do we destroy a terrible force which is what your team is all about—" Oliver nodded at that. She was right, "But we also get rid of the people now in charge of enforcing this ridiculous new bill, along with the information to blackmail them into repealing it."

"Sounds like a plan. What's the catch?"

"It won't be easy," Nikita said simply. "Your . . . girlfriend, for lack of a better word, is inside of Division right now. She's trying to get access to the locations of the black boxes that contain the information we need, both for your purposes, and so that I can take down the organization itself."

Oliver was still trying to process all of the information Nikita had just thrown at him, but he did note that Chloe must have told her about their relationship. And that wasn't the only thing he noticed, "You let her go in there alone, she better be okay, or I will—"

Nikita cut him off, "Calm down, Oliver. First of all, she's not alone. And second of all, she came to me about this."

"She did?"

"She said she saw it with some helmet. At first I thought she was crazy," Nikita seemed to get a little flustered, "But I've seen strange things before, and she knew things that . . . she couldn't have really known any other way."

Oliver focused on releasing his anger. There were more important things to worry about. "When you saw her, was she . . . okay?" he asked softly.

Nikita smiled sadly, "She's fine." She hesitated, as if unsure whether she were overstepping some sort of boundary, "She loves you, and she did it _for _you. Remember that, Oliver. She did it for the world, and she hated leaving you."

Oliver felt himself harden against that. She left him.

She should have trusted him, at the very least sooner than _this_.

Nikita recognized the warring emotions on his face, "Oliver, she said it _had _to be this way."

"It didn't."

"She said she saw it, and knew that any other way wouldn't have even had a chance of working. She said this—" Nikita's breath hitched, she'd become emotionally invested in Chloe and Oliver's relationship as she'd learned about it. "This is the only way. She _loves_ you."

"Maybe love isn't enough," was all he said. There were some things he wouldn't discuss with a stranger, and this was one of them.

Nikita looked like she wanted to disagree, but decided not to. Instead, she sighed before speaking, "We have a lot to do, so I should brief you on our plan."

The faraway look in Oliver's eyes disappeared, "Of course." There were more important things to worry about.

XXXX

Chloe headed for Percy's office after warning Alex that she was about to get what she needs done. This is it, hopefully. She waited until a day when Percy was supposed to be gone.

She managed to sneak through the hallway, and into Percy's office. She felt her heart pumping blood so loud through her veins that she swore it was echoing throughout all of Division.

Chloe sighed silently. She assured herself that she _could_ do this.

She walked over to the computer, turned it on, easily bypassing the security codes.

_Tap. Tap. Tap. _She had part of what she needed, but she couldn't seem to find—the door opened and suddenly Michael had a gun pointed at her.

Well, there went that plan.

She was pretty much screwed now. She hadn't seen _that_ in the pretty—actually it wasn't particularly pretty, but it was really, really shiny—golden helmet, had she? Nope.

She would have liked a damn warning.

She wondered briefly if she should come up with some sort of excuse, but she couldn't really think of anything that was actually plausible. She opened her mouth, about to speak—and she would never know what she was about to say, nor would anyone else.

"I knew there was something about you that I didn't trust."

Chloe sighed. Maybe if it had been someone else she could have talked her way out of the situation, but not Michael. She supposed he'd been burned too many times before. She supposed it would hurt for him to find out about Alex. But that would come, it would hurt, and it would pass. He had a lot of excess baggage. And until he dealt with his feelings with Nikita, he wasn't going to be able to trust anyone, not really anyway.

Chloe smiled, a horribly false smile, "Michael, look—"

"Give me one reason I shouldn't shoot you right now," Michael interrupted.

Chloe's fake smile disappeared. "Because you don't belong here, Michael. You don't belong at Division anymore than I do. It needs to get taken down. It's a disaster, its moral compass is out the window, pointing in the direction of, well, evil." Chloe would have come up with a better speech, but she'd been caught off guard, because Michael was supposed to be with Percy. As in, _not there with a gun pointed at her._

Michael seemed to hesitate at that, but Chloe realized that he'd heard that numerous times, and even from the only person he might have believed. He just didn't want to believe it.

Or, more likely, it was just easier not to.

"Not good enough," Michael made a move as if he were done listening.

Lovely. "Because no matter what happens, Division doesn't matter as much as Nikita does."

Michael's face was overcome with a multitude of emotions, and as she watched him struggle, she was overcome with the intense desire to give him a hug.

He really looked like he needed one.

But then he seemed to straighten himself out, "What do you know about Nikita?"

Chloe sighed, "Quite a bit. I can see now—and I couldn't see it before—that you're in love with her."

Michael's face seemed to shutter down, completely unreadable except the pain in his eyes. He looked so sad that Chloe wished—as she often did—that this were all just a little less complicated.

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"I do," Chloe said softly. "You think Percy's on your side? He's always on _his_ side. You're useful, he'll use and manipulate you until he decides you have to die, or you manage to get yourself killed on your own."

Michael just stood there.

Chloe continued, "He set you up, Michael. He doesn't care about you. And you know you don't belong here, you belong with Nikita." She knew it was hopeless, but she said it anyway, "Come with me. Leave Division. Help fight it. Don't keep enabling it's unnecessary killing and selfish missions. It's time to leave, Michael."

"It's not that simple."

"It never is." Chloe just waited to see what he would do, then looked down at her hands at the flashdrive with all of the info she's stolen on it. This was pretty damned complicated as far as she was concerned.

Michael didn't seem to know what he wanted to do, "It doesn't matter—" and with that Alex conked him on the head, knocking him out.

Chloe gasped, shocked. She hadn't seen Alex coming.

When she calmed down, she sighed with relief, "Thank you. I don't know what he was about to say, but I'd rather not take the chance."

Alex smiled slightly, "I'll admit, I was listening longer than I should have. I should have saved you earlier, but I was . . . curious."

Chloe smiled back, "I understand. But next time, please don't let him get so close to killing me." She looked down. "What are you going to tell him?"

"That he got a little confused and you somehow knocked him out." Alex looked up at Chloe and smiled, "So, really, I have no idea. I'll make something up."

Chloe stepped forward, "Thank you. Now how do I get out of here?"

Alex smiled, "I'll show you," she took her by the hand and showed her the escape route. "Good luck."

Chloe looked at Alex curiously, "Are you being nicer to me?"

"Yes." Alex said simply.

"Why?" Chloe asked curiously.

"Because of what you said to Michael, that wasn't just about saving yourself. You seemed to genuinely care about his relationship with Nikita."

Chloe smiled, "I do." Chloe thought for a moment before speaking, "It's messy, and it hurts. But they love each other. It's beyond any of this, if only they could see that."

Alex quirked her head to the side, "How do you know that?"

"Because I can _feel_ it. And I know what it feels like to have that kind of love, but be afraid of it because the universe seems to be conspiring against you."

Alex sighed, "I do too."

Chloe would have comforted her, had there been more time, but there wasn't. "I should go."

"You should," Alex stepped forward and hugged Chloe.

"Good luck, Alex. Try not to get yourself killed."

"I'll try," Alex replied wryly. "You should go."

And she left.


	4. Chapter 4

I disclaim!

XXXXXX

"I think I'm going to die," Birkhoff stated.

"As opposed to your previous state of immortality when that _wasn't _going to happen eventually?" Michael couldn't help but retort.

Birkhoff slowly turned to face Michael, "Did you seriously just say that? I can't believe you just said that."

Michael sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose out of frustration, "What did she _get?_I don't have time for your existential crisis."

"It wasn't really existential."

Michael just stared at him expectantly. "Well?"

Birkhoff sighed, "You know how I just said I wanted to die?"

"You said you were _going_ to die. Bit of a difference there. Point, please."

"What crawled up your ass and died?" Birkhoff mumbled just loud enough for Michael to hear.

Michael rolled his eyes, "I have a bump the size of a golfball on my head. I'm sorry if I'm not being friendly enough for you." Birkhoff would forgive him, they were friends . . . of a sort.

Birkhoff frowned. "I think both of my previous statements are accurate."

"What's going on?"

Birkhoff hesitated before answering, "Shadownet is down."

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Michael felt his headache intensify. "Isn't it supposed to be, in your words here, "perfect" . . . what happened to that?"

Birkhoff slammed his head down on the table in front of him. "She's good, Michael. She—she's not _better_ than me, but she caught me off-guard. I might be able fix it, but I'll probably have to redo it from scratch. And as far as I can tell, she's put in safeguards to make sure that that I can't reconnect most of what we could before. It's going to take some time to fix."

Michael sighed, "When did she get the opportunity and access to do all of this?"

"I have no idea. It was Percy's idea to see what she could do with Shadownet . . . and most of it seems to have crashed in on itself within the last few hours though, which means . . . " he trailed off.

"Which means we have a problem," Michael finished.

Birkhoff nodded, "Big problem." He hesitated. "I think she was working with Nikita."

Michael closed his eyes. He hadn't intended to tell anyone about his little "conversation" about Nikita, and he wasn't going to change his mind now. But Birkhoff was no fool, and he already knew Chloe and Nikita were connected. "You're right. She must have been the leak to Nikita. Finally, things can get back to normal now that she's gone."

Brikhoff snorted at that, "Not likely. She's screwed us over. Normal just went out the window for at least a while."

"Just great." For a brief moment Michael wished someone would just knock him out again. The next words he heard solidified that wish.

"What's great?" Percy walked in at that moment. "What's going on?"

Michael turned, "Do you want to tell him," he nodded at Percy, "Or should I?"

Birkhoff looked like he actually wanted to die, which was quite uncharacteristic. Then again, him being _this_ unlucky was pretty damn uncharactertistic. "Um, you."

XXXX

Chloe finally reached Nikita's hideout and sighed with relief. She really just wanted to sleep for about a thousand years. She'd had to stop along her way back to make sure she'd triggered most of her Shadownet traps, but now she was _tired_.

And there was a part of her that was worried that Nikita would have already contacted Oliver— and she really couldn't handle him right now.

She couldn't really handle _anything _right now. She walked into the large open space where most of Nikita's tech was located and was happy to see it empty. She saw a bed in the corner and she wandered over to it.

_So tired._ She decided to lie down—or, well, her body did because it quite frankly had decided to give out on her at that moment. She was so ready for this to be over, but there was still a lot to do.

Chloe swore she was so tired she couldn't fall asleep—if that were possible anyway, which she rather thought it was. Because, well, she was experiencing it.

Too tired to sleep. That sounded ridiculous.

Chloe tried to focus in on her plans—because this wasn't the end, this was just the beginning.

They still had to break back into Division, storm the castle so to speak.

And they still had to hunt down the rest of the black boxes—though she conveniently had locations for most of them, though not all.

Just lovely.

And she still had to face Oliver soon—something she both desperately wanted to do, and was terrified of.

She missed him. But she also realized that she'd hurt him when she'd left, even though she'd done it because it was _necessary._

It had torn her apart to do things the way she had, but there had been no other choice.

She would make it up to him, she promised herself as her body finally gave up and she fell asleep.

XXXX

Oliver walked down into the room after taking a shower—Nikita jumped in after him, suggesting that she did her best thinking while submerged in water, which he'd found amusing, but he'd chosen not to comment on it.

Oliver sighed. This was going to be stressful.

He walked into the room and was surprised to see a balled up person on the bed in the corner. He walked closer, his heart pumping.

"Chloe," he whispered. She didn't stir, she was obviously deeply asleep.

He hurried the rest of the way to her, kneeling next to the bed. He lifted his hand to her cheek, stroking it with his thumb.

It had been so long since he'd seen her, he wanted to just glory in her. He could stare at her for hours.

It had been so long since he'd last touched her, he just cupped her face with his hand, feeling tears well up at the corner of his eyes. He missed her.

And every wound he'd felt because of her leaving seemed to explode back open, full force.

He'd wanted to believe that they'd gotten to the point where there weren't secrets, and where Chloe could be completely honest with him.

There was no reason she couldn't have come back to him after faking her death. There was no reason she couldn't have contacted him _sooner_ than this.

She should have _trusted_ him.

He removed his hand, stopping his stroking motion. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

As she was asleep, it was okay, but as soon as she woke up, he'd see the look in her eyes, the smile on her lips . . . and he couldn't handle that.

He couldn't handle her apologies, or anything else.

He loved her, and it hurt him.

_She_ hurt him.

He didn't know if he could get over that.

In the meantime he just stared at her, unable to move his eyes from her face, or from tracing the outline of her body.

He still missed her, even though she was right in front of him. He couldn't connect to her, he couldn't yell at her for being such a damn fool, and he couldn't—he couldn't look away.

XXXX

When Nikita walked in and saw the two of them she was instantly worried. Chloe shouldn't have been here. Nikita walked quietly over to her computer, she needed to talk to Alex. Oliver didn't move at the noise she made.

Nikita felt a _pang_ in her heart at seeing the reunited lovers. She hoped they would figure things out, because they fit together in a lovely sort of way. That, of course, was the least of her problems though, and not even really _her _problem.

She logged onto her computer, trying to ignore her own pain.

Michael was still furious with her for stopping him from getting revenge on the man who'd killed his wife and daughter, and he could quite possibly never forgive her for that.

Oh, how she missed him!

She forced down her feelings. Things would never be the same between them, and there was nothing she could do about that.

There'd been a time where they'd been happy—though apart, of course, because Division wouldn't allow them to have a romantic relationship—but it hadn't lasted long. They'd been _friends._

And she'd been in love with him, though she'd never said it aloud. And he'd loved her, she'd thought, but he'd never said it either. They _couldn't_ have said the words.

Then she'd fallen for Daniel—sweet, kind, lovely Daniel, and he'd died because she'd loved him. She didn't think she could ever forgive herself, or Michael, for that. And as she desperately worked to take down Division, Michael worked to take her down.

And in the meantime, whenever she saw him she died a little inside. The look on his face—almost always of pain—broke her heart. It was just the way things were, and there was no going back from it.

Nikita sighed when she saw that Alex wasn't online. Oh well. It was a worry for another day now.

XXXX

Alex hadn't really liked Chloe at first, but after realizing she was a genuinely caring person, she'd somewhat changed her opinion.

But really, the reason why Alex _loved_ Chloe right now was the mess she'd left behind at Division. Everyone was running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

It was _hilarious_.

Alex was highly amused by the chaos Chloe had caused, and she tried to hide it. She realized that she needed to have a reason for her great mood, so when Thom had quirked an eyebrow and asked her why she seemed to be in such good spirits she'd lied, obviously, "I never liked Chloe, you know that. It's nice to be vindicated."

Thom had smiled slightly at that, "I wouldn't be so happy if I were you, it's dangerous, especially when things are such a mess."

Alex leaned in slightly, grabbing a napkin to hand to Thom. She smiled, "I'll try to take that under advisement," she laughed as Thom failed terribly at managing to clean up the mess he'd made of his face. She grabbed the napkin back, "Here," and she wiped it away, a small smudge of sauce near his mouth. Upon realizing where her hand was, she dropped it suddenly back down towards her own side of the table.

"Thanks." Thom looked at her in confusion. "Alex, I—"

Alex smiled brightly, "So, Thom. What do you know about this craziness? Did they catch her?" Alex didn't want to hear what Thom was going to say next, she didn't think she could handle the look that had been on his face anymore. There'd been a hint of yearning in his eyes, and she just—she couldn't handle that.

"I don't know," Thom replied. He scrunched his nose up in a way that made Alex a little weak in the knees because of how absolutely adorable it was. "But if they had . . . I think they'd be a little less stressed."

Alex managed to not smile at that. "Too bad," and she looked back down at her food.

Man, she was hungry for _real_ food. Or, well, not-real food. Fast food. Chocolate. Anything other than this. It kind of felt like prison, but with slightly better tasting food. Alex briefly wondered about the kind of people who prepared their meals.

That was interesting. Some people ended up being guards, and others were legit agents. And wouldn't it just suck to get put on kitchen duty? She snorted at that, and upon seeing the questioning look on Thom's face explained her thought process to him.

She loved that he laughed, and not _at _her either.

God, she loved _him._

Alex shook herself free of her reverie, and finished her breakfast. She needed to report to Nikita soon—hopefully, anyway, if Chloe hadn't ruined even those systems.

It was going to be a _long_ day.


End file.
